'I need a higher car for easier access'

Aidan Timmons and Motoring Editor Eddie Cunningham team up to help readers make the right choice with their next car. Aidan visits dealers all over the country to produce a monthly guidebook on the values of used cars. He is co-editor of Motor Trade Publishers, who supply a car-valuing service to the motor trade, insurance companies and finance houses. Eddie is author of former best-seller 'Clever Car Buying'

Aidan Timmons and Motoring Editor Eddie Cunningham team up to help readers make the right choice with their next car. Aidan visits dealers all over the country to produce a monthly guidebook on the values of used cars. He is co-editor of Motor Trade Publishers, who supply a car-valuing service to the motor trade, insurance companies and finance houses. Eddie is author of former best-seller 'Clever Car Buying'

We have a 2010 Golf Plus Comfort, 1.6D with 130,000km. It's going well and is cheap to run. We also have a 2012 A6 Avant 2-litre TDi SE (new model) with 120,000km, also going well. We have three kids (10 to 14), two small dogs etc. Budget €10k /€12k plus trade-in. PCP an option. Annual km 6,000km to 10,000km each. Mostly daily town school trips plus a long weekend trip. Need two vehicles. I need higher car for easier access (small SUV?). Garages offering poor trade-in values. Do we drive VW to ground and trade A6? Vice-versa? We are not brand-conscious. Buy petrol/hybrid such as hybrid KIA Niro, 1.2-litre Peugeot 3008, 1-litre Karoq (for A6) or 1-litre Hyundai Kona, KIA Stonic, SEAT Arona, Peugeot 2008, VW T-Roc.

Aidan and Eddie: Use the A6 for the long weekend spins - that should keep it ticking over nicely. Trade the Golf and get either a VW T-Roc petrol or a Toyota C-HR. The former is most popular with the 1-litre petrol engine in Design trim. It retails at around €27,000. If you go the PCP route, then add the Technology Pack. It's another €579, but you will spread the cost of only some of that over the three years. You might not use the adaptive cruise control much, but the rest of the pack finishes the car off nicely.

The C-HR is probably better suited to your needs because it is tall, spacious and hybrid. It means you will also have an automatic transmission. It sounds like a small thing, but manuals in city traffic take a bit of conscious effort to drive. Go for Luna Sport trim. PCP on the cards too. Good APR from Toyota Financial Services.

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